Weddings
by Fearless-Elegance
Summary: Gaara doesn't truly under the concept of marriage. Second in the 'What Gaara Knows' series..or something.


A/N: I started on this at 10pm, and I'm finishing now at 2:15am...and I'm bone tired..like it or hate, I don't care, just review, dammit.

.//-!-//.[.Weddings..//-!-//.

Gaara doesn't truly under the concept of marriage.

So when Temari asked; or more like told he and Kankuro that they would be attending the wedding of one of her childhood friends, he harshly declined the invitation; as did his brother. But Temari reminded him that he was the Kazekage, and as such, it would be extremely rude of him to snub the invitation; especially one from the few Noble families of Sunagakure left, simply because he didn't see the 'purpose' in weddings. It was then he realized that being leader of a village not only met doing what you had to do, but doing what you were expected to do by your subordinates. Once again, he'd found himself wishing he lacked a conscience.

"Where is it being held?" He asked unenthusiastically as he rubbed either side of his aching temple. Hours of paper work and now this had overwhelmed him to the point of another migraine.

"The Nagoyaka Temple in Kirigakure," Temari replied with a slight grin, setting a small bowl of Macha tea on her brothers desk. "She says it's a really picturesque scene, you know? Gardens, trees, old fashioned torii gates; very traditional." Her voice took on a somewhat dreamy, distant tone as she explained the scenery animatedly. "And there is this pond off to the left of the grounds where this family of swans live, and she really thought that would add a very nice touch to the whole ordeal."

"And when?"

"Three weeks from today. But if we want to make it in time, we should leave a few days earlier. I've spoken to Baki and the Elders. If you go, they're willing to take over in your absence." One thing about Temari, if she really wanted something done, she went out and did it herself. And almost never failed.

His attention wavered somewhat due to the aching in his cranium, but he nodded attentively as he took a small taste of his steaming tea. "What does Kankuro think of all this?"

Her suddenly bitter facial expression gave him a decent idea. "He's being a brat, as always," she replied resentfully. "The fact that he has to bring a date that isn't made of wood and wire pisses him off."

This brought out a light chuckle from Gaara. "Hm. Well I wasn't too pleased with that aspect myself...luckily Naruto's available, or else I'd have been force to take one of the village female's." The mere thought made him shudder. It was bad enough he could hardly walk down the street without forcing grown women to blush and swoon. Frankly, he thought it as tiring and annoying as the Kazekage job itself. Not all the women of Sunagakure lost their self-respect in his presence, but enough did.

Naruto may have been an overzealous, hyperactive, often naive blonde; but he wasn't a ditzy one. He had his moments.

Temari smiled at her younger sibling. "Maybe if you tone down some of that 'bad boy turned leader' sex appeal, the women wouldn't loose themselves so easily. At the rate they're drooling over you, Suna is going to become a booming rainforest in the next decade."

He couldn't help but laugh a little. "Well, if I'm taking Naruto, and Kankuro is taking Matsuri, who will be escorting you?"

"Oh.." A light flush of pink spread across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose as she shrugged. Moving to lower herself into the seat placed in front of the desk, she cleared her throat. "I was going to take.." Temari mumbled her escorts name under her breath.

"Who?" Gaara's brow bridge rose.

"You know, S..." Another mumble.

"Shikamaru?"

"HOW DID YOU--" Catching herself, she leaned back into the chair defeatedly. "Eh...yeah, Shikamaru."

"Temari, if I wasn't mistaken, I'd have to say you're catching feelings for a Konoha ninja."

"Mm..." His sister looked thoroughly embarrassed. "They don't make them like that here in Suna," she responded.

"Ah," Gaara breathed light as he grasped his tea bowl with both hands. "Trust me. I know."

* * *

Five hundred guests. Gaara wondered what rationally thinking person could possibly want five hundred damn guests at a single event. Most of the guest were natives of Sunagakure; three hundred of them in fact. Gaara had worn his Kazekage robes, as expected of him; while Matsuri and Temari wore robes of pale blue and green. Kankuro simply wore a white version of his usual puppeteer outfit, refusing anything different. Naruto on the other hand, had attended wearing an elegant, and visibly feminine furisode kimono embroided with red swirls; hair pulled back in a chignon hairstyle complete with stylish hair combs made of gold and silver. He'd borrowed everything from Sakura; he mentioned when Gaara kept starring lasciviously at him during the entire ceremony. The sand nin decided he'd need to thank that girl someday.

He had found the whole ordeal rather interesting and elaborate. He didn't understand though, what the purpose was. If anything, he thought it had all been just a show or wealth. He could have been wrong, could have missed some important fact in it all, but that was the most he could gather from it. After hours of greeting and speaking with guests from other villages; mainly of politics, Village Treaties and all the shit he'd hoped he had left behind in Sunagakure for the next few days, he found himself sitting on a stone bench in the center of the Cherry Blossom garden. He didn't know where Naruto had gotten off to, last he remembered the boy was drooling over a pot of ramen at the Wedding Reception.

Flower petals dripped from the skies in fluttering showers; littering his kazekage robes with shades of pink and red. Lifting a hand upward, he allowed a few of the fragile petals to land in the middle of his palm. His gaze never shifted from the flowers, as if he expected them to spell out the answer he sought.

"There you go," a quiet voice announced, followed by the shifting of silk and the almost silent echo of footsteps along the petal covered ground.

Gaara didn't shift his attention until he felt the warm presence of someone sitting beside him. Only then did he lift his eyes to look over to Naruto. "Yes...here I am." Turning his hand so that the cherry blossoms fell to the ground, he sighed somewhat.

"Eh?" Blinking in confusion at the Kazekage's sudden desolate tone, he placed a hand atop the red head's lightly. "Somewhat wrong?"

"I'm not sure," Gaara uttered. Thrusting out his free hand, he snapped his wrist sharply as he closed his fingers around three cherry blossom petals. "Naruto..?"

"Yes?"

"What was the purpose of that? What was it all for?"

"Of what?" It took him a moment to realize what the male was speaking off. "Oh, the wedding?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Well...weddings are.." He paused abruptly, his glossed lips twisted in deep contemplation. "In a way," he started softly, shifting his fingers to lace with the one's of Gaara. "I think Marriage is...well, a somewhat subtle way of telling the world that you love one person, and only one person. You're dedicating your life, through the vows you speak, to that one person; for all to see. You're telling everyone you want to be together, forever and ever. It's a shameless act of devotion between two people.." A small smile tugged at his lips. "That's why I think this day was so important."

"But, if two people love each other, why does it matter what others think?"

"It doesn't, Gaara. That's the point. People may not agree with the wedding, but they can't really stop it. You know what I think? I think it's like a silent 'Fuck you' to anyone who says they can't be together." He and Gaara filled the Garden with soft laughter. Reaching out to grab his lovers right hand, Naruto pried open the pale fingers gently; revealing the three petals lying in the palm of the sand nin's hand. "The leaves of life keep falling one by one. The wine of life keeps oozing drop by drop," he recited in a vague tone.

"Naruto..?"

"Hm?"

Leaning forward, he crushed their lips together; the sweet tasting gloss giving Naruto's lips their shine smearing along Gaara's own mouth as they parted to allow a pink tongue to slip past. He always wondered how moment likes this already started with 'One thing lead to another..' when explaining to Temari what took them so long. And one thing had lead to another, because he couldn't really remember how he got from kissing the boy, to letting the slender blond straddle his hips and direct his movements.

The sun begin to set; rays of golden light reflecting off the fine sheen of sweat over Naruto's frame and dancing over the alabaster skin with each up and down stroke of his body. Gaara noted -- as Naruto winced and convulsed with strangled cries, that the kitsune had a way of looking incredibly beautiful without even trying to. He knew if he ever said it aloud, he'd probably get a bitter look and a hand to his face, but it was something he thought each his lover managed to look effortlessly elegant. Especially in a position like this...

"We...should hurry.." Naruto murmured, but his hips still moved gradually.

Lips brushing over the male's clavicle, the sand ninja released a shuddering sigh, recuperating slowly from his previous climax. "Nn...in order to do that...you should stop moving.."

"I'm trying," he moaned, leaning his head back. Flower petals fell from their branches, landing and sticking to his moist chest in abstract patterns.

"Here...let me help y--"

Breathlessly, he shook his head. The top two layers of his robes having falling off his shoulders, and the right side of the under garment just barely hanging on. "N--no--just--one--more," he managed out in-between thrusts.

Gaara leaned his head forward, resting his face against the boy's chest as he kept his arms wrapped around the bare waist. "Mm.." Keeping his head together was hard; Naruto claying and clinging at his skin, biting and moaning, lifting and dropping back down onto him. "It's...for the best, someone might come a--"

"My point is to get you to come again," he whispered, placing his hands on either side of the Kazekage's face and drawing him in for a kiss.

"That isn't--ah...what I meant...someone might see.." The last thing he needed was a repetition of their Konoha incident. If that were to come about, he would refrain from killing the one to witness their carnal actions.

Pausing his hips, Naruto allowed the tips of his fingers to move over his lover's face in slow, feather soft strokes. Muttering quietly, he placed light kisses over his cheeks and mouth. "Sometimes...making love is like getting married...a silent fuck you to the world...and you don't care who sees you..."

* * *

It's been three months, two days, and ten hours and Gaara still doesn't understand the concept of marriage.

But when he works up the nerve -- gathered up from hours of speaking to Temari and Kankuro throughout long and sleepless nights, to drop down on one knee before Naruto with the promise of eternity held in the diamond he offers out to him, he thinks he's starting to get the idea of it.

When tears well up in the big blue orbs that he's associated with love and peace and tenderness, he thinks he might really be understanding what it's all about.

When Naruto accepts with a breathless 'YES' and the blonde throws his arms around him; holds him in a way that makes Gaara wonder if he'll ever be able to breath again, or ever even want to, he believes it's becoming clearer.

When Naruto kisses him afterward, in front of the small crowd gathering outside the Gates of Konoha, it's still a little blurry, but something -- something Naruto said once again brings into clear perspective:

_I think Marriage is...well, a somewhat subtle way of telling the world that you love one person, and only one person. You're dedicating your life, through the vows you speak, to that one person; for all to see. You're telling everyone you want to be together, forever and ever. It's a shameless act of devotion between two people..._

Gaara doesn't fully grasp the point or purpose of Marriage.

But he knows he wants to be with Naruto forever and ever; and he knows that the wants to world to know right with him.

And that's more than enough for him.

* * *

A/N: Hoped you enjoyed. R&R. 


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